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The Stanford University Archive of Recorded Sound began continuous web streaming of the Riverwalk Jazz programs consisting of more than 350 hours of historic radio broadcasts on January 1, 2013 from http://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu. Using rich narrative, oral histories and interviews, clips of historic musical recordings, and live musical performances by the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, each radio show entertains and educates its listeners, promoting classic jazz music and an appreciation for its place in history. With this new web site, the series of programs is an incomparable research collection for use by jazz scholars and fans alike.
The home page makes two channels of programs available like a radio webcast with each channel playing a unique sequence of 352 shows in an ongoing loop, including some of the earliest shows which have not been heard in over 20 years. The arrangement is thematic, covering topics such as women in jazz, spirituals, hymns & the blues, civil rights, and hot spots like New Orleans, Chicago, Harlem, San Francisco, and Texas. Many programs focus on the lives and works of musicians, singers, and composers such as Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Fats Waller, George and Ira Gershwin, and Cole Porter among many more.
For the first time Stanford Libraries is presenting audio content from its collections like a licensed radio station. The Riverwalk Jazz audio programs are supplemented on the web site with illustrated program notes, photo galleries, additional audio content, and detailed information about the Jim Cullum Jazz Band players, their show guests, and the nearly 1300 songs they perform together. In addition, a detailed finding aid (http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8222vcv/) describes the large archive of tape recordings, scripts and production files, business records, and other documents preserved at the Archive of Recorded Sound. More content will be added to the site in early 2013.
For more information about the project and to gain access to the Riverwalk Jazz archives, contact the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound (soundarchive@stanford.edu; 650-723-9312).